Band:	Eluveitie
Album:	Origins
Style:	Celtic folk metal, Gothenburg metal
Release date:	August 01, 2014
A review by:	Windrider

01. Origins
02. The Nameless
03. From Darkness
04. Celtos
05. Virunus
06. Nothing
07. The Call Of The Mountains
08. Sucellos
09. Inception
10. Vianna
11. The Silver Sister
12. King
13. The Day Of Strife
14. Ogmios
15. Carry The Torch
16. Eternity

So here we are again, fellow folks. Eluveitie, kings of Celtic metal, are back with two new members and sixteen new songs. Hopefully no one expects something different than your usual folkish fiddle metal for this is exactly what you get here, once again. But seriously, those Swiss guys have always been great at what they do and especially after Ensiferum's last effort we all know that things can go wrong if you change too much. So now that we worked out our expectations, the rest is about distinguishing good and bad not-so-good songs while having a look at the overall sound on Origins.

Twelve metal songs and four intro/outro/less-than-a-minute tracks await the listener and last for fifty-seven minutes. The album starts off with our already known and beloved narrator from Helvetios, setting the mood for an opus to come. And really, it doesn't take a minute to be dragged back to ancient Gallic times, facing threats from filthy Romans and other rivalrous tribes. But as the songs go by and the lyrics of each sink into the mind, one notices that many topics have changed from martial war stories to rather peaceful and mythological tales. A good example for this is the great opener "The Nameless", dealing with an ancient god of the Gauls. And as time goes by the songs are getting even better. At first.

If there is one thing to complain about Origins, it is the fact that it's a good example of a well-known tactic to hide the rather unspectacular tracks; namely placing them in the middle. I know that this is all a matter of taste, but with "The Call Of The Mountains" starts a four-track-long dry spell. The song itself is quite cheesy and poppy and simply not as good as "A Rose For Epona" from the previous album. While the next two tracks haven't much to offer, "Vianna" ends this in the same vein. But finally "The Silver Sister" stands as a great comeback and makes for much fun, having some features of a good party track. From this song on, the rest is again top-notch.

Most of the lyrics are in English but some passages again are in ancient Gallic, which gives a great feeling to them and makes "Carry The Torch" one of the best songs. Chrigel Glanzmann's vocals are powerful as always with his personal, somewhat dirty sounding style. In contrast, the guitars this time are clearer than ever, yet also heavier and stronger due to the use of noise gates. They make the foundation for the soft folk instruments above, a combination in which this band achieved to perfection, allowing them to go at any tempo.

In conclusion, this is an Eluveitie album. Jokes aside, great songs are easily noticed here and if there are some that deserve extra praise, most certainly their names are "From Darkness" and "Celtos", for they catch the listener at the very first listen and remain in their ears. Well done!